by Jeff Schinstock
The spring is a time when the sacrament of confirmation is often celebrated. Of course we have the many people entering the Church on the Easter Vigil who have received the sacrament. We also have many parishes throughout the diocese having their young people confirmed. In fact, I was blessed again this year to witness another of my children experiencing the special grace of confirmation.
Confirmation is a free and wonderful gift from God. The Church tells us that it “completes our baptism” (CCC 1304). Baptism of course, brings us into the church and marks us as children of God, but it also is where God plants the seeds of unique graces to help us be holy and strive to know, love and serve God. Among these graces are the theological virtues of faith, hope and love. It is in confirmation that these graces are stirred in us for the sake of our own missionary calling in the Church.
Each of us has a calling from God to be holy. That is, to set ourselves apart from the world or our own desires of our fallen nature for the sake of God. We each have a unique vocation through which that holiness is to be lived out. Most of us are called to the married life; some are called to give that up for the sake of the kingdom. It is there that we should focus the core of our unique mission. The Catechism reminds us that God the Holy Spirit, who came down upon the apostles at Pentecost, is the same Holy Spirit who comes upon us at confirmation (CCC 1302).
It is easy to see in hindsight that God inspired those apostles to a great mission. It can be harder to see that he is doing the same for each of us. How can I accomplish some great missionary act? I’m just a regular person. So were the apostles. Like them, we begin by spending time with Jesus and letting his presence with us affect every part of our life. God knows our imperfections and our limitations, and he asks us to be faithful anyway. We also know that one of the effects of confirmation is that “it gives us a special strength of the Holy Spirit to spread and defend the faith by word and action as true witnesses of Christ, to confess the name of Christ boldly, and never to be ashamed of the Cross” (CCC 1303). Do we believe in that grace present in our life?
The Church needs you. We need you and your unique gifts. I have heard many people say they want to do things in and for the Church, but they don’t believe they are ready yet or even fear they aren’t good enough. If we wait around to become perfect before venturing out on the mission we are called to, we will never get to it.
I urge you today to take to prayer in your mission. Ask Jesus to tell you what he sees in you; what gifts he has given to you; and how he wants them put to the service of his will. Don’t be afraid to seek guidance from someone you see as further along in the spiritual life. What do they see and how can you offer it back? It is in that offering of ourselves that we often discover ourselves as God knows us. Be a blessing to your parish and spiritual community, allow yourself the freedom to live as God has made you.
